System and method for presenting moving graphic animations in inactive and active states

ABSTRACT

A method and system for providing absolute and zone coordinate mapping with graphic animations include presenting a user interface in an inactive state, wherein a background graphic animation and a user interface object graphic animation are presented on the user interface in an inactive format. The method and system also include determining that a touch input is provided on a touchpad to map a selected user interface object presented on the user interface based on an absolute mapped position of the touch input received on the touchpad. The method and system additionally include presenting the user interface in an active state, wherein the background graphic animation and the user interface object graphic animation are presented on the user interface in an active format.

This application is a continuation of, and claims priority to, U.S.application Ser. No. 15/680,680, filed on Aug. 18, 2017, which is acontinuation-in-part of, and claims priority to, U.S. application Ser.No. 15/633,809, filed on Jun. 27, 2017, which itself is a continuationof, and claims priority to, U.S. application Ser. No. 14/547,211, filedon Nov. 19, 2014 and issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,727,231 on Aug. 8, 2017,the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in theirentireties. This application also claims the benefit of U.S. ProvisionalApplication No. 62/421,322, filed on Nov. 13, 2016, the entiredisclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

Vehicles are often equipped with one or more display units located atthe vehicle dashboard or other area(s) of the vehicle that are utilizedto provide various user interfaces to vehicle occupants. Many of theuser interfaces have different formats and layouts that present userswith various shapes, sizes, and locations of input icons through the oneor more display units. In many instances, these user interfaces do notpresent intuitive graphics that represent input actions being conductedby users. Therefore, users that in many cases include a vehicle drivermay not be aware that an input is registered that may be provided to auser interface of the vehicle. This limitation may cause the driver toprovide multiple inputs to user interface objects and may causeinefficiency and frustration for the user, especially in the case of thevehicle driver.

In some cases, the one or more display units are operably connected to atouchpad that is remotely located within the vehicle (e.g., in thecenter panel of the vehicle) in order to provide inputs to userinterface objects on the user interfaces. A key limitation of touchpadsis that touchpads are relatively mapped to the display unit. Forexample, when the user touches the touchpad, the touchpad converts theinput data into relative coordinate values causing a delayed access toinput the user interface objects of the user interfaces being shown on adisplay screen. In other words, a touch input on a touchpad is notregistered at the corresponding area of the display screen as it isbeing inputted on the touchpad by the user. In addition, conventionallya particular user interface object may only be selected when a userdrags a cursor to the position of the user interface object on thedisplay. Therefore, no input is received on any of the user interfaceobjects unless the user touch inputs the touchpad by dragging, swiping,and/or moving touch inputs to manipulate the location of the cursor toone of the user interface objects.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

According to one aspect, a method for providing absolute and zonecoordinate mapping with graphic animations is provided. The methodincludes presenting a user interface in an inactive state, wherein abackground graphic animation and a user interface object graphicanimation are presented on the user interface in an inactive format. Themethod also includes determining that a touch input is provided on atouchpad to map a selected user interface object presented on the userinterface based on an absolute mapped position of the touch inputreceived on the touchpad. The method additionally includes presentingthe user interface in an active state, wherein the background graphicanimation and the user interface object graphic animation are presentedon the user interface in an active format, wherein the backgroundgraphic animation is presented with a hovering effect emitting out fromthe user interface object graphic animation of the selected userinterface object.

According to another aspect, a system for providing absolute and zonecoordinate mapping with graphic animations is provided. The systemincludes a memory storing instructions when executed by a processorcause the processor to present a user interface in an inactive state,wherein a background graphic animation and a user interface objectgraphic animation are presented on the user interface in an inactiveformat, wherein the background graphic animation is presented as astationary graphic when the user interface is presented in the inactivestate. The instructions also cause the processor to determine that atouch input is provided on a touchpad to map a selected user interfaceobject presented on the user interface based on an absolute mappedposition of the touch input received on the touchpad. The instructionsfurther cause the processor to present the user interface in an activestate, wherein the background graphic animation and the user interfaceobject graphic animation are presented on the user interface in anactive format, wherein the background graphic animation is presented asa moving graphic when the user interface is presented in the activestate.

According to still another aspect, a computer readable storage mediumstoring instructions that when executed by a computer, which includes atleast a processor, causes the computer to perform a method that includespresenting a user interface in an inactive state, wherein a backgroundgraphic animation and a user interface object graphic animation arepresented on the user interface in an inactive format, wherein thebackground graphic animation is presented as a stationary graphic whenthe user interface is presented in the inactive state. The instructionsalso include determining that a touch input is provided on a touchpad tomap a selected user interface object presented on the user interfacebased on an absolute mapped position of the touch input received on thetouchpad. The instructions further include presenting the user interfacein an active state, wherein the background graphic animation and theuser interface object graphic animation are presented on the userinterface in an active format, wherein the background graphic animationis presented as a moving graphic when the user interface is presented inthe active state.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The novel features believed to be characteristic of the disclosure areset forth in the appended claims. In the descriptions that follow, likeparts are marked throughout the specification and drawings with the samenumerals, respectively. The drawing figures are not necessarily drawn toscale and certain figures may be shown in exaggerated or generalizedform in the interest of clarity and conciseness. The disclosure itself,however, as well as a preferred mode of use, further objects andadvances thereof, will be best understood by reference to the followingdetailed description of illustrative embodiments when read inconjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a system for providing absolute and zonecoordinate mapping with user interface object graphic animation andbackground graphic animation according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a view illustrating absolute coordinate mapping between atouchpad and a display screen, according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 3A is a view illustrating absolute coordinate mapping between thetouchpad and the display screen presenting a vehicle human machineinterface (vehicle HMI), according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 3B is a view illustrating zone coordinate mapping between thetouchpad and a display screen presenting the vehicle HMI, according toan exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 4A illustrates an exemplary method for providing absolute and zonecoordinate mapping with user interface object and background graphicanimations from the operating environment of FIG. 1 according to anexemplary embodiment;

FIG. 4B is an exemplary illustration of the vehicle HMI that ispresented in an inactive state, according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 4C is an exemplary illustration of the vehicle HMI that ispresented in an active state, according to an exemplary embodiment; and

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary method for providing absolute and zonecoordinate mapping with graphic animations from the operatingenvironment of FIG. 1 according to an exemplary embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following includes definitions of selected terms employed herein.The definitions include various examples and/or forms of components thatfall within the scope of a term and that may be used for implementation.The examples are not intended to be limiting.

A “processor,” as used herein, processes signals and performs generalcomputing and arithmetic functions. Signals processed by the processormay include digital signals, data signals, computer instructions,processor instructions, messages, a bit, a bit stream, or othercomputing signal that may be received, transmitted and/or detected.

A “bus,” as used herein, refers to an interconnected architecture thatis operably connected to transfer data between computer componentswithin a singular or multiple systems. The bus may be a memory bus, amemory controller, a peripheral bus, an external bus, a crossbar switch,and/or a local bus, among others. The bus may also be a vehicle bus thatinterconnects components inside a vehicle using protocols such asController Area network (CAN), Media Oriented System Transport (MOST),Local Interconnect Network (LIN), among others.

A “memory,” as used herein may include volatile memory and/ornonvolatile memory. Non-volatile memory may include, for example, ROM(read only memory), PROM (programmable read only memory), EPROM(erasable PROM) and EEPROM (electrically erasable PROM). Volatile memorymay include, for example, RAM (random access memory), synchronous RAM(SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rateSDRAM (DDR SDRAM), and direct RAM bus RAM (DRRAM).

An “operable connection,” as used herein may include a connection bywhich entities are “operably connected”, is one in which signals,physical communications, and/or logical communications may be sentand/or received. An operable connection may include a physicalinterface, a data interface and/or an electrical interface.

A “vehicle”, as used herein, refers to any moving vehicle that iscapable of carrying one or more human occupants and is powered by anyform of energy. The term “vehicle” includes, but is not limited to:cars, trucks, vans, minivans, SUVs, motorcycles, scooters, boats,personal watercraft, and aircraft. In some cases, a motor vehicleincludes one or more engines.

An “input device” as used herein may include devices for controllingdifferent vehicle features which are include various vehicle components,systems, and subsystems. The term “input device” includes, but is notlimited to: push buttons, rotary knobs, and the like. The term “inputdevice” additionally includes graphical input controls that take placewithin a user interface which may be displayed by various types ofmechanisms such as software and hardware based controls, interfaces, orplug and play devices.

An “output device” as used herein may include devices that may derivefrom vehicle components, systems, subsystems, and electronic devices.The term “output devices” includes, but is not limited to: displayunits, and other devices for outputting information and functions.

Referring now to the drawings, wherein the showings are for purposes ofillustrating one or more exemplary embodiments and not for purposes oflimiting the same, FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a system for providingabsolute and zone coordinate mapping with user interface object graphicanimation and background graphic animation according to an exemplaryembodiment. The system, which may also be referred to as an absolutezone mapping system, is generally designated by reference numeral 100.The components included within the system 100 may be interconnected viaone or more system buses. It will be understood that FIG. 1 constitutes,in some respects, an abstraction and that the actual organization of thecomponents of the system 100 may be more complex than illustrated. Asdescribed in more detailed below, the absolute zone mapping system 100may be utilized to provide a user 138 (e.g., an occupant of the vehicle102) with the ability to provide touch inputs through a touchpad 108 tovarious user interfaces shown through a display unit 104.

The absolute zone mapping system 100 utilizes absolute coordinatemapping that allows the user 138 to touch a specific portion of thesurface 140 of the touchpad 108 and provide an input to a correspondingportion of the user interface shown on a display screen 110 of thedisplay unit 104. In addition, the absolute zone mapping system 100provides zone mapping in order for the user to utilize absolutecoordinate mapping to input user interface objects in a rapid mannerwithout having to touch input a portion of the touchpad 108 that isspecifically mapped to the location of a user interface object.

In one embodiment, the system 100 is installed in the vehicle 102 thatincludes the display unit 104 that may be located within the center ofthe dashboard of the vehicle 102, as shown in FIG. 1, or any otherlocation within the vehicle 102. The display unit 104 may include adisplay screen 110. In one embodiment, the display unit 104 may presentone or more user interfaces that correspond to the one or more operatingsystems, applications, and/or vehicle systems and subsystems on thedisplay screen 110. In some embodiments, the one or more user interfacesmay present vehicle information including graphics that may be renderedand shown via the display screen, a meter display unit (not shown) ofthe vehicle 102 which may include a dashboard display or an instrumentcluster display (both not shown), and/or a heads up display unit (notshown) of the vehicle 102.

As will be described in more detail below, the one or more userinterfaces may include an exemplary vehicle human machine interface(vehicle HMI). As described below, the vehicle HMI may be presented invarious states and with one or more user interface object graphicanimations (UI object graphic animations) and a background graphicanimation that may individually be based on touch inputs received on thetouchpad 108.

In one or more embodiments, the display unit 104 may be configured in avariety of form factors, shapes, sizes, designs, and/or configurations.As will be discussed in more detail below, the display unit 104 isoperably connected to the touchpad 108. The touchpad 108 is utilized bythe user(s) to provide touch inputs to one or more user interfacesincluding the vehicle HMI that are executed and stored on a head unit106 within the vehicle 102.

In addition to the display screen 110, the exemplary embodiment of thedisplay unit 104 shown in FIG. 1 may include a controller 112, acoordinate display recognition module 114, and a display communicationdevice 116. The display screen 110 may be a flat panel display that mayinclude a liquid crystal display (LCD) device, an electroluminescentdisplay (ELD) device, a field emission display (FED) device, a plasmadisplay panel (PDP), a thin film transistor LCD (TFT-LCD) device, aflexible display unit, an organic light-emitting diode (OLED), anactive-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED), etc. The displayscreen 110 may be configured in a variety of form factors, shapes,sizes, designs, and/or configurations. For example, the display screen110 may be configured in a wide or ultra wide format. In an alternateembodiment, the display unit 104 may include a heads up display thatprojects the display screen 110 upon the windshield of the vehicle 102.

The controller 112 may control the display unit 104 based in part oncoordinate data that is received by the display communication device116. The controller 112 may be any hardware device capable of executinginstructions stored within a memory/storage (not shown). As such, thecontroller 112 may include a microprocessor, field programmable gatearray (FPGA), application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or othersimilar devices. The controller 112 may interact with a display driver(not shown) that is utilized to provide images to the display screen 110based on commands sent by the controller 112. In one embodiment,inherent processing memory (not shown) of the controller 112 may storeoperational instructions, applications, and/or interfaces that arespecific to the display unit 104 and are executed by the controller 112.For example, the controller 112 may execute a display settings userinterface to be utilized by the user to select settings shown on thedisplay screen 110 such as color, tint, sharpness, format, etc.

The display communication device 116 may be capable of providing wiredor wireless computer communications utilizing various protocols tosend/receive non-transitory signals internally to the head unit 106and/or the touchpad 108 and externally to external devices. Generally,these protocols include a wireless system (e.g., IEEE 802.11, IEEE802.15.1 (Bluetooth)), a near field communication system (NFC) (e.g.,ISO 13157), a local area network (LAN), and/or a point-to-point system.Additionally, the display communication device 116 may be operablyconnected for internal computer communications to the head unit 106and/or touchpad 108 via a bus (e.g., a Controller Area Network (CAN) ora Local Interconnect Network (LIN) protocol bus). In an exemplaryembodiment, the display communication device 116 may receive inputsignals and send output signals to both the head unit 106 and thetouchpad 108. In one embodiment, the display communication device 116may also communicate with external devices in order for the controller112 to receive inputs to be shown on the display screen 110. Forexample, the display communication device 116 may communicate viawireless computer communication with the user's portable electronicdevice.

The display unit 104 also includes the coordinate display recognitionmodule 114. In one embodiment, the coordinate display recognition module114 is a separate hardware device that includes a separate processor,memory, storage, or other hardware. In an alternate embodiment, thecoordinate display recognition module 114 may be included as part of thecontroller 112 (i.e., stored within the memory/storage of thecontroller) to be specifically utilized when executed. In an exemplaryembodiment, the coordinate display recognition module 114 is utilized todetermine the display coordinate values (display coordinates) of userinterface objects that are presented (via the head unit 106) anddisplayed on the display screen 110. Display coordinates includelocational coordinates that are determined based on the surface area ofthe display screen 110.

In an exemplary embodiment, the coordinate display recognition module114 may be utilized to determine the display coordinates of one or moreuser interface objects, and/or an input indicator, as described in moredetail below. The input indicator may be utilized by the display unit104 as a visible or non-visible input point that may include the displaycoordinates that correspond to the touch input provided by the user 138on the surface 140 of the touchpad 108. As described below, aposition/location of the input indicator may be determined based on theabsolute coordinate mapping or the zone coordinate mapping.

In one embodiment, the coordinate display recognition module 114 mayidentify the display coordinates as being x and y points that containone or more pixels. The y point may define the vertical side(s) of thedisplay screen 110, and the x point may define the horizontal side(s) ofthe display screen 110. In one embodiment, the coordinate displayrecognition module 114 may determine the display coordinates from anorigin point being on the left top corner of the display screen 110. Forexample, based on an exemplary scaling system the “0,0” point is in theupper left corner of the display screen 110, and the “999,999” point isat the lower right corner of the display screen 110. In the example, thedisplay coordinates represent a square shaped display screen, however,the display screen 110 may be configured in any form factor, shape,and/or size (e.g., widescreen, ultra widescreen). Therefore, thecoordinate display recognition module 114 may utilize any type ofscaling system that may depend on the size and shape of the displayscreen 110.

In one embodiment, the coordinate display recognition module 114 mayutilize data sent from the head unit 106 (through the displaycommunication device 116) with regards to one or more user input objectsin order to evaluate specific display coordinates that may be utilizedon the display screen 110 to display the user interface objects. In oneembodiment, the coordinate display recognition module 114 may also senddata to the head unit 106 (through the display communication device 116)with regards to the display coordinates of the input indicator withrespect to the one or more user interface objects.

In an exemplary embodiment, the coordinate display recognition module114 may utilize data sent from the touchpad 108 (through the displaycommunication device 116) that includes touchpad coordinates withrespect to touch inputs received by the user(s) in order to provideabsolute coordinate mapping between the touchpad 108 and the displayscreen 110. In an exemplary embodiment, the coordinate displayrecognition module 114 may interpret one or more touchpad coordinates(x,y coordinate values that correspond to the position of the user'stouch input upon the surface 140 of the touchpad 108) to determineplacement of the input indicator that may indicate selection of one ofthe one or more user interface objects presented on the vehicle HMI.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the touchpad 108 may be in a form ofa rectangular surface that includes the surface 140 that may translatethe motion and position of one or more of the user's finger(s) to anabsolute position on the display screen 110 of the display unit 104. Thesurface 140 of the touchpad 108 may be configured in a variety of formfactors, shapes, sizes, designs, and/or configurations. For example, thesurface 140 may be configured in a wide or ultra-wide format. In oneembodiment, the touchpad 108 may provide tactile feedback and/orpressure sensing. For example, the touchpad 108 may receive an input byincreasing the pressure of the user's finger on the surface 140 of thetouchpad 108, instead of providing a separate touch input in the form oflifting and tapping the user's finger. In an alternate embodiment, thetouchpad 108 may also include a “hot spot” location of the surface 140of the touchpad 108 that provides specific types of functionality apartfrom the remaining portion of the surface 140. For example, a “hot spot”location of the surface 140 may include scrolling zones (horizontaland/or vertical scroll bars that are visibly shown on the surface 140 ofthe touchpad 108) that act as a scroll wheel specifically provided toquickly scroll through user interfaces shown on the display screen 110.

In one or more embodiments, the touchpad 108 may include hard buttons(not shown) that may include for example, a first hard button, a secondhard button, and a third hard button. Upon input of one or more of thehard buttons by the user 138, the coordinate touch recognition module130 may provide respective data to the head unit 106 to indicate theinput of the respective hard button(s). The head unit 106 may analyzethe data and may provide specific inputs to the one or more userinterfaces including the vehicle HMI based on mapping of inputs tofunctions that correspond to the user interfaces(s). For example, thefirst button may include an activation input that may be inputted toactivate the vehicle HMI from an inactive state, and the second buttonmay include a deactivation button that may inputted to deactivate thevehicle HMI (e.g., put the vehicle HMI in an inactive state) from anactive state. It is to be appreciated that the hard buttons may beinputted to provide a variety of functions that may respectively pertainto the one or more user interfaces being displayed on the display screen110 of the display unit 104.

As described below, the absolute zone mapping system 100 utilizesabsolute coordinate mapping that allows the user to touch a specificportion of the surface 140 of the touchpad 108 and simultaneously accessa corresponding portion of the user interface being displayed on thedisplay screen 110. Therefore, the touchpad coordinates on the surface140 of the touchpad 108 may be absolute mapped to the display pointcoordinate values on the display screen 110 of the display unit 104. Inother words, upon receiving a touch input on the touchpad 108 from theuser(s), the absolute position where the user's finger touch inputs thesurface 140 at specific touchpad coordinates is mapped by placing theinput indicator at corresponding display coordinates on the displayscreen 110. Specifically, the absolute position at upper left corner ofthe touchpad surface coordinates may be mapped to the absolute locationat upper left corner of the display screen coordinates. Similarly, theabsolute position at lower left corner, lower right corner, and upperright corner of the touchpad surface coordinates are mapped to theirrespective corners on the display screen coordinates.

In an alternate embodiment, the touchpad 108 may include an input switchthat provides the user the capability to switch between the absolutecoordinate positioning mode and a relative coordinate positioning mode.For example, if the user would like to operate the touchpad 108 toprovide the input indicator that is relatively positioned to the displayunit 104 (in a manner similar to a computer mouse pointer), the touchpad108 may be switched from the absolute coordinate mapping mode to therelative coordinate mapping mode. When the touchpad 108 is in therelative coordinate mapping mode, the touchpad coordinates of thetouchpad 108 do not absolutely correspond to the display coordinates ofthe display screen 110. Therefore, in the relative coordinate mappingmode, the input indicator is independently positioned on the displayscreen 110 relative to the user's touch input received at specifictouchpad coordinates on the surface 140 of the touchpad 108.

As shown in FIG. 1, in an exemplary embodiment, the touchpad 108 mayinclude the coordinate touch recognition module 130, a touchpadcommunication device 132, capacitive sensors 134, and a controller 136.The capacitive sensors 134 may be capable of determining capacitance tosense the user touch input from the user's finger(s) on the surface 140of the touchpad 108. In one embodiment, the capacitive sensors 134 maybe located at numerous touchpad coordinate locations of the touchpad 108and are able to sense touch inputs from every touch input provided atevery touchpad coordinate location.

In an exemplary embodiment, the capacitive sensors 134 send a signalcorresponding to multiple points of touch input received on the surface140 of the touchpad 108. The capacitive sensors 134 may be able to sensemulti-touch gestures as well as various types of gesturing techniquessuch as tapping gestures, swiping gestures, swirling gestures, scrollinggestures, etc. Additionally, the capacitive sensors may be able to sensethe touch input position, the touch input speed, the touch inputdirection, the touch input angle, and the like and may providerespective data to the coordinate touch recognition module 130. Thecoordinate touch recognition module 130 may aggregate the data receivedfrom the capacitive sensors 134 into touchpoint data that represents amanner in which the touch input(s) are provided by the user 138 on thesurface 140 of the touchpad 108. Additionally, as described below, thecoordinate touch recognition module 130 may communicate the touchpointdata along with touchpad coordinates that correspond to the one or moretouch inputs provided by the user 138 to the head unit 106.

In an alternate embodiment, the touchpad 108 may be a resistive touchpadthat may not include the capacitive sensors 134. The resistive touchpadmay instead include layered sheets that respond to pressure on thesurface 140 of the touchpad 108 by contacting one another at specifictouchpad coordinate locations based on the touch input of the user'sfinger(s), a stylus, or other device on the surface 140 of the touchpad108. In yet an another embodiment, the touchpad 108 may be a conductancetouchpad that includes two surfaces with sensors that connect to eachother upon receiving the user's touch input at specific touchpadcoordinate locations. It is to be appreciated that the resistivetouchpad or the conductance touchpad may be configured with sensors thatmay be able to sense the touch input position, the touch input speed,the touch input direction, the touch input angle, and the like and mayprovide respective data to the coordinate touch recognition module 130.The coordinate touch recognition module 130 may aggregate the datareceived from the capacitive sensors 134 into the touchpoint data andmay communicate the touchpoint data to the head unit 106.

In an exemplary embodiment, the controller 136 may control the touchpad108 based in part on touch inputs received at touchpad coordinatelocation(s) that are sensed by the capacitive sensors 134. Thecontroller 136 may be any hardware device capable of executinginstructions stored within a memory/storage (not shown). As such, thecontroller 136 may include a microprocessor, field programmable gatearray (FPGA), application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or othersimilar devices. The controller 136 may interact with a touchpad driver(not shown) that may interpret the user's touch inputs on the surface140 of the touchpad 108.

In one embodiment, the controller 136 may evaluate touch inputs receivedon the surface 140 of the touchpad 108. Specifically, upon sensing ofthe touch input(s) from the user's finger touching the surface 140 ofthe touchpad 108, the capacitive sensors 134 may send one or more touchinput signals to the controller 136 indicating the presence of the touchinput(s) on the touchpad 108. In an exemplary embodiment, the controller136 of the touchpad 108 may utilize instructions stored within inherentprocessing memory (not shown) of the controller 136 to provide commandsto control and operate components of the touchpad 108 such as thecoordinate touch recognition module 130.

In one embodiment, the coordinate touch recognition module 130 mayinclude a separate hardware device that includes a separate processor,memory, storage, or other hardware. In an alternate embodiment, thecoordinate touch recognition module 130 may be included as part of thecontroller 136 (i.e., stored within the inherent processing memory ofthe controller 136) to be specifically utilized when executed. In anexemplary embodiment, the coordinate touch recognition module 130 may beutilized to determine the touchpad coordinates of touch input(s) thatare registered by the controller 136 and the touchpoint data thatpertains to the touch input position, the touch input speed, the touchinput direction, the touch input angle, and the like of the touchinputs(s) as discussed above. Specifically, upon the capacitive sensors134 sensing the user's finger(s) touching the surface 140 of thetouchpad 108, the controller 136 may register the touch input and mayprovide the touch input as raw data to the coordinate touch recognitionmodule 130. The controller 136 may utilize the coordinate touchrecognition module 130 to determine the touchpad coordinates of thetouch input(s) on the surface 140 of the touchpad 108 and the touchpointdata that corresponds to the touch input(s).

In one embodiment, the coordinate touch recognition module 130 mayidentify the touchpad coordinates as being x and y points (correspondingto a horizontal and vertical axis) that contain one or more capacitivesensors 134. The y point may define the vertical side(s) of the touchpad108, and the x point may define the horizontal side(s) of the touchpad108. In one embodiment, the coordinate touch recognition module 130 maydetermine the touchpad coordinates from an origin point being on theleft top corner of the surface 140 of the touchpad 108. For example,based on an exemplary scaling system, the “0,0” point is in the upperleft corner of the touchpad 108, and the “399,399” point is at the lowerright corner of the touchpad 108. In this example, the touchpadcoordinates represent a square shaped touchpad, however, the touchpad108 may be configured in any form factor, shape, and/or size (e.g.,wide, ultra-wide). Therefore, the coordinate touch recognition module130 may utilize any type of scaling system that may depend on the sizeand shape of the touchpad 108.

The touchpad communication device 132 may be capable of providing wiredor wireless computer communications utilizing various protocols tosend/receive non-transitory signals internally to the head unit 106and/or the display unit 104 and externally to external devices.Generally, these protocols include a wireless system (e.g., IEEE 802.11,IEEE 802.15.1 (Bluetooth)), a near field communication system (NFC)(e.g., ISO 13157), a local area network (LAN), and/or a point-to-pointsystem.

The touchpad communication device 132 may be operably connected forinternal computer communications to the head unit 106 and/or displayunit 104 via a bus. In one embodiment, the touchpad communication device132 may receive input signals and send output signals to both the headunit 106 and the display unit 104. In one embodiment, the touchpadcommunication device 132 may also communicate with external devices inorder for the controller 136 to send inputs to various vehicle systemsand subsystems. For example, the touchpad communication device 132 maycommunicate directly with the vehicle audio system to provide inputcommands that are utilized for providing specific types of audio systemfunctionality.

In an exemplary embodiment, the coordinate touch recognition module 130may provide the touchpad coordinates to be utilized by the coordinatedisplay recognition module 114 to position the input indicator at anabsolute mapped position at corresponding display coordinates of thedisplay screen 110. In an exemplary embodiment, the touchpadcommunication device 132 may communicate directly with the displaycommunication device 116 in order for the coordinate touch recognitionmodule 130 to provide the touchpad coordinate values to the coordinatedisplay recognition module 114. In an alternate embodiment, the touchpadcommunication device 132 and the display communication device 116 maycommunicate directly in order for the coordinate display recognitionmodule 114 to send display coordinates corresponding to one or more userinterface objects that are presented on the display screen 110 to thecoordinate touch recognition module 130.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the head unit 106 may include astorage 118, a controller 120, a head unit communication device 122, auser interface management module 124, a background animation module 126,and a user interface object animation module 128 (UI object animationmodule). In one embodiment, the coordinate touch recognition module 130of the touchpad 108 may provide the touchpad coordinates correspondingto the touch input(s) received by the user 138 on the surface 140 of thetouchpad 108 and related touchpoint data to the user interfacemanagement module 124 of the head unit 106. The user interfacemanagement module 124 may evaluate the touchpad coordinates and thetouchpoint data to provide one or more respective graphic animations tothe one or more user interfaces being executed by the head unit 106. Asdiscussed below, upon receipt of the touchpad coordinates the userinterface management module 124 may provide one or more respective datasignals to the background animation module 126 and/or the UI objectanimation module 128 to provide one or more formats of the backgroundgraphic animation and/or one or more formats of one of or more UI objectgraphic animations presented on the vehicle HMI.

In one embodiment, the storage 118 of the head unit 106 may includevarious memories such as, for example L1, L2, or L3 cache or systemmemory. As such, the memory may include static random access memory(SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), flash memory, read only memory (ROM), orother similar memory devices. The storage 118 may be utilized to storeone or more operating systems, applications, associated operating systemdata, application data, vehicle system and subsystem user interfacedata, and the like that are executed by the controller 120. In one ormore embodiments, the storage 118 may store data that may include userinterface data that pertains to the vehicle HMI.

The controller 120 may be any hardware device capable of executinginstructions stored within a memory/storage (not shown). As such, thecontroller 120 may include a microprocessor, field programmable gatearray (FPGA), application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or othersimilar devices. In an exemplary embodiment, the controller 120 may beutilized to execute one or more user interfaces including the vehicleHMI that may be associated with the operating systems, applications,vehicle systems and subsystems. In one embodiment, the controller 120may include an electronic control unit (not shown) of the vehicle 102that may be utilized to control any and all electronic componentslocated within the vehicle 102. In yet an alternate embodiment, thecontroller 120 may control the display unit 104 and/or the touchpad 108in lieu of separate respective controllers 112, 136 included therein.

The head unit communication device 122 may be capable of providing wiredor wireless computer communications utilizing various protocols tosend/receive non-transitory signals internally to the display unit 104and/or the touchpad 108 and externally to external devices. Generally,these protocols include a wireless system (e.g., IEEE 802.11, IEEE802.15.1 (Bluetooth)), a near field communication system (NFC) (e.g.,ISO 13157), a local area network (LAN), and/or a point-to-point system.Additionally, the head unit communication device 122 may be operablyconnected for internal computer communications to the display unit 104and/or touchpad 108 via a bus. In one embodiment, the head unitcommunication device 122 may also communicate with external devices inorder for the controller 120 to execute computer program instructionslocated on an external device. For example, the head unit communicationdevice 122 may communicate via wireless computer communication with theuser's portable electronic device in order to execute an infotainmentapplication that is stored on the portable electronic device through thevehicle infotainment system (not shown) to be displayed through thedisplay unit 104.

In an exemplary embodiment, upon execution of one or more applicationsthat are stored on the storage 118, the controller 120 may utilize thehead unit communication device 122 to communicate via computercommunication with the display communication device 116 in order todisplay one or more user interfaces and associated user interfaceobjects on the display screen 110 of the display unit 104 that mayinclude, but is not limited to the vehicle HMI. In one embodiment, thehead unit communication device 122 may also be utilized to communicatewith the touchpad 108 in order to provide data that pertains to userinterfaces that correspond to the one or more operating systems,applications, and/or vehicle systems and subsystems.

In an exemplary embodiment, the user interface management module 124 isutilized to provide user interface data that pertains to the vehicleHMI. The user interface data provided by the user interface managementmodule 124 may include data that pertains to graphics that may include,but are not limited to the UI object graphic animations, backgroundgraphics animations, and other graphics presented on the one or moreuser interfaces and user interface objects.

In one embodiment, the user interface management module 124 maycommunicate with the coordinate display recognition module 114 (via thecommunication devices 116 and 122) to determine the display coordinatesof the display screen 110. In addition, the user interface managementmodule 124 may send data to the coordinate display recognition module114 respective of user interface objects that are to be placed atrespective display coordinates of the display screen 110. In someembodiments, the coordinate display recognition module 114 may send datato the user interface management module 124 to indicate the displaycoordinates of the input indicator. The head unit 106 may evaluate thisdata and the vehicle HMI may be presented with the one or more UI objectgraphic animations associated to one of the user interface objects thatare inputted based on the location of input indicator that correspond tothe position of the touch input(s) provided by the user 138 on thesurface 140 of the touchpad 108.

In one embodiment, the user interface management module 124 may also beutilized to provide data to the touchpad 108 in order to determinetouchpad coordinates of the touchpad 108 that correspond to the graphicsand user interface objects of the one or more user interfaces includingthe vehicle HMI being presented on the display screen 110. In analternate embodiment, the user interface data provided by the userinterface management module 124 may be utilized by the touchpad 108 toprovide added functionality independent of any user interface object(s)displayed on the display screen 110. For example, the touchpad 108 mayutilize a specific type of swiping, tapping, and/or sliding action ofthe user's finger on the touchpad 108 to activate functions of thevehicle audio system.

In one or more embodiments, the user interface management module 124 mayinterpret data provided by the touchpad 108 through the coordinate touchrecognition module 130 that may indicate one or more touch inputs andthe manner of the touch input(s) provided by the user 138. Morespecifically, the user interface management module 124 may interprettouchpad coordinates of touch input(s) received by the user 138 on thetouchpad 108 and associated touchpoint data that may indicate the mannerof the touch input(s) being inputted by the user on the surface 140 ofthe touchpad 108. In one embodiment, the user interface managementmodule 124 may interpret one or more touch pad coordinates received fromthe touchpad 108 and the associated touchpoint data pertaining to themanner of the touch input and may provide one or more respective signalsto the background animation module 126 and the UI object animationmodule 128 to indicate the receipt of the touch input and the touchpointdata.

In another embodiment, the coordinate display recognition module 114 maysend data to the user interface management module 124 with regards tothe one or more display coordinates of the input indicator with respectto the user interface objects being displayed on the display screen 110.The user interface management module 124 may interpret the datapertaining to the one or more display coordinates of the input indicatorand may provide one or more respective signals to the backgroundanimation module 126 and the UI object animation module 128 to indicatethe position of the input indicator. In some embodiments, the userinterface management module 124 may receive both touchpad coordinatesand touchpoint data and data with regards to the one or more displaycoordinates and may merge the data and provide the merged data to thebackground animation module 126 and the UI object animation module 128in the form of one or more signals.

In one or more embodiments, upon receipt of the signal(s) from the userinterface management module 124, the background animation module 126 mayinterpret one or more signals sent from the user interface managementmodule 124 based on inputs received on the touchpad 108 by the user 138to present one or more formats of background graphic animation on theone or more user interfaces including the vehicle HMI. In particular,the background animation module 126 may present the background graphicanimation on the one or more user interfaces including the vehicle HMIin one or more different graphical formats based on the touchpadcoordinates and related touchpoint data and/or the display coordinatesof the input indicator. As described below in more detail, thebackground animation module 126 may provide the background graphicanimation of the one or more user interfaces including the vehicle HMIin an inactive graphical format and in an active graphical format. Inparticular, within the inactive graphical format and the activegraphical format the background graphic animation of the userinterface(s) may be presented in a variety of manners that may pertainto the touch input(s) provided on the touchpad 108 and the manner oftouch input(s).

In an exemplary embodiment, the UI object animation module 128 mayinterpret the one or more signals received from the user interfacemanagement module 124 based on inputs received on the touchpad 108 bythe user 138 to present one or more formats of UI object graphicanimations that are presented on the one or more user interfacesincluding the vehicle HMI. In particular, with respect to the vehicleHMI, the UI object animation module 128 may interpret one or moresignals received from the user interface management module 124 toprovide various formats of the UI object graphic animations that may bepresented on the one or more user interfaces that include the vehicleHMI.

In one or more embodiments, upon receipt of the signal(s) from the userinterface management module 124, the UI object animation module 128 mayprovide one or more UI object graphic animations being presented on theone or more user interfaces including the vehicle HMI in one or moredifferent graphical formats based on the touchpad coordinates andrelated touchpoint data and/or the display coordinates of the inputindicator. As described below in more detail, the UI object animationmodule 128 may provide the one or more UI object graphic animationspertaining to one or more respective user interface objects in aninactive graphical format and in an active graphical format. Inparticular, within the inactive graphical format and the activegraphical format the one or more UI object graphic animations may bepresented in a variety of manners that may pertain to the touch input(s)provided on the touchpad 108 and the manner of touch input(s).

FIG. 2 is a view illustrating absolute coordinate mapping between thetouchpad 202 and the display screen 206, according to an exemplaryembodiment. FIG. 2 illustrates the display screen 206 and the touchpad202 utilizing a simplified coordinate scale for the purposes ofproviding a simplistic example of absolute coordinate mapping. As shown,the absolute position at the upper left and right corners of the surface140 include touchpad coordinates that are mapped to the absolutelocation at upper left and right corners of display screen 206 thatinclude corresponding display coordinates. Similarly, the absoluteposition at lower left corner and right corners of the surface 140include touchpad coordinates that are mapped to the absolute location attheir respective lower left and right corners of the display screen 206that include corresponding display coordinates. Thus, each area of thesurface 140 of the touchpad 202 has a corresponding absolute point onthe display screen 206.

As stated above, the coordinate display recognition module 114 mayutilize any type of scaling system that may depend on the size anddimensions of the display screen 206. Additionally, the coordinate touchrecognition module 130 may also utilize any type of scaling system thatmay depend on the size and dimensions of the touchpad 202. The displayscreen 206 may be scaled by measuring the display screen dimensionsand/or the number of horizontal (x) axis and vertical (y) axis displaycoordinates on the display screen 206 as determined by the coordinatedisplay recognition module 114. In addition, the touchpad 202 may alsobe similarly scaled by measuring the touchpad dimensions and/or thenumber of horizontal (x) axis and vertical (y) axis touchpad coordinateson the touchpad 202 as determined by the coordinate touch recognitionmodule 130.

In one embodiment, upon receiving the touch input from the user on thesurface 140 of the touchpad 202, the coordinate touch recognition module130 may determine the x and y touchpad coordinates of the user's touchinput 204. In the illustrative example shown in FIG. 2, the capacitivesensors 134 may sense the user's touch input 204 and may provide touchsensing signal(s) to the coordinate touch recognition module 130. In oneembodiment, the coordinate touch recognition module 130 may determinethe x and y touchpad coordinates based on the location where the touchinput is sensed on the surface 140 of the touchpad 202. As shown in theillustrative example, the coordinate touch recognition module 130 maydetermine the touchpad input occurring at the x,y touchpad coordinates(8,12) of the surface 140 of the touchpad 202.

In an exemplary embodiment, upon determining the touchpad coordinates,the coordinate touch recognition module 130 may utilize the touchpadcommunication device 132 to send the touchpad coordinate values to thedisplay communication device 116 to be evaluated by the coordinatedisplay recognition module 114. The coordinate display recognitionmodule 114 may evaluate the touchpad coordinates received from thecoordinate touch recognition module 130 in order to present the inputindicator 208 at an absolute mapped position at display coordinatescorresponding to the touchpad coordinates of the user's touch input 204.

In one embodiment, upon receiving the touchpad coordinate values via thedisplay communication device 116, the coordinate display recognitionmodule 114 may utilize an (x:y) coordinate display ratio between thetouchpad 202 and the display screen 206 to determine corresponding (x,y)display coordinate values. Specifically, upon receiving the touchpadcoordinates from the coordinate touch recognition module 130, thecoordinate display recognition module 114 may evaluate the touchpadcoordinates and may calculate proportionate display coordinate valuesbased on the ratio between the display screen (x:y) scale and thetouchpad (x:y) scale. In one embodiment, the (x:y) display ratio mayinclude the ratio between the length of the horizontal axis of thetouchpad 202 and the length of the horizontal axis of the display screen206, and a ratio between the length of the vertical axis of the touchpad202 and the length of the vertical axis of the display screen 206.

As shown in the illustrative example of FIG. 2, there may be a 1:2display ratio between the touchpad 202 and the display screen 206 thatincludes 1:2 ratio on the x axis and a 1:2 ratio on the y axis. Thecoordinate display recognition module 114 may determine that theabsolute display coordinate position on the display screen 206 atdisplay coordinate values (16,24) based on the touch input 204 receivedon the touchpad 202 at touchpad coordinate values (8,12). Therefore, thecoordinate display recognition module 114 may place the input indicator208 at the location of the display screen 110 corresponding to thedisplay coordinate values (16,24) in order to absolute map the touchinput received on the touchpad 202 to the input indicator 208 presentedon the display screen 206.

In one embodiment, the coordinate touch recognition module 130 mayutilize the touchpad communication device 132 to send the touchpadcoordinate values and the touchpoint data to the head unit communicationdevice 122 to be evaluated by the user interface management module 124.Upon receiving the touchpad coordinate values and the touchpoint data,the user interface management module 124 may register the touchpadcoordinate values and may send the one or more signals to the backgroundanimation module 126 and/or the UI object animation module 128, asdiscussed above to provide one or more respective graphic animations onthe one or more user interfaces that may include the vehicle HMI. Theuser interface management module 124 may additionally communicate datarespective of user interface objects, background graphic animations, andUI object graphic animations (that are to be placed at respectivedisplay coordinates of the display screen 110) along with the displaycoordinates values corresponding to the touchpad coordinate values tothe coordinate display recognition module 114. In other words, the userinterface management module 124 may evaluate the touchpad coordinatevalues, data provided by the background animation module 126 pertainingto background graphic animations, and/or data provided by the UI objectanimation module 128 pertaining to one or more UI object graphicanimations and translate the data into display coordinate values thatare sent to the coordinate display recognition module 114 to be utilizedto provide the input indicator 208 and one or more user interfaceobjects.

As described above, FIG. 2 shows the coordinate display recognitionmodule 114 providing the input indicator 208 at the absolute mappeddisplay coordinate values (16,24) of the display screen 206 thatcorresponds to the absolute location of the touch input 204 received attouchpad coordinate values (8,12) on the touchpad 202. Although in theexample of FIG. 2, the touchpad coordinate values and the display pointcoordinate values are mapped as whole numbers, the coordinates may bespecified to more defined/precise coordinate values that may providecoordinate values in two or more digit decimal place values. Forexample, the touch input may have been inputted between x coordinatevalues 8 and 9, and y coordinate values 7 and 8 providing an touchpadcoordinate values of (8.57, 7.56).

FIG. 3A is a view illustrating absolute coordinate mapping between thetouchpad 108 and the display screen 110 presenting the vehicle HMI 306,according to an exemplary embodiment. FIG. 3A illustrates the displayscreen 304 and the touchpad 302 utilizing a simplified coordinate scalefor the purposes of providing a simplistic example of absolutecoordinate mapping between the touchpad 302 and the display screen 304.In the illustrative example shown, touchpad 302 is operating in theabsolute coordinate mapping mode, as described above. As shown, thedisplay screen 304 displays the vehicle HMI 306 that is presented fromthe head unit 106 of the vehicle 102. Specifically, in the illustrativeexample shown, the vehicle HMI 306 is presented as a vehiclesystem/function interface menu that may be utilized by the user 138 tonavigate to one or more vehicle systems and/or functions.

The vehicle HMI 306 presented on the display screen 304 may presentinformation, application, and other types of data. For example, thevehicle HMI may display audio information, navigation information,vehicle settings information, service information, communicationapplications (e.g., messaging, phone), notifications (e.g., via anotification bar and/or area (not shown)), and passenger-relevantinformation among others. As shown in FIG. 3A, the vehicle HMI 306 mayinclude user interface objects 308-322. The functions associated witheach user interface object 308-322 may be executed from user input viathe touchpad 108. In some embodiments, the user interface objects308-322 may be associated with applications that may be executed andstored, for example, by the head unit 106. In additional embodiments,the vehicle HMI 306 may extend to be presented on the meter displaywithin the vehicle 102 that may include matching user interface objectsto the user interface objects 308-322 or one or more alternate userinterface objects.

In one or more embodiments, the vehicle HMI 306 may be divided intodifferent areas for displaying one or more of the user interface objects308-322. For example, in FIG. 3A, zone A and zone B are shown. The zoneA and zone B may present one or more different types of sub-interfacesof the vehicle HMI 306 that may pertain to different operating systems,applications, vehicle systems, and the like. For example, as shown, zoneA may present a first sub-interface displaying the user interfaceobjects 308-318 that include icons that may be inputted to map to higherlevel functions and/or systems of the vehicle 102. Additionally, asshown zone B may present a second sub-interface that presents userinterface objects 320, 322 that pertain to a specific user interface,application, and/or vehicle system. For example, as shown in FIG. 3A,zone B presents user interface objects 320, 322 that pertain to an audiosystem of the vehicle 102. As described in more detail below, one orboth zone A and zone B of the vehicle HMI 306 may be presented with arespective background graphic animations and the one or more userinterface objects 308-322 may be presented with respective UI objectsgraphic animations that may be presented in a variety of formats basedon one or more touch inputs provided by the user 138 on the touchpad108.

With continued reference to FIG. 3A, when absolute coordinate mapping isutilized between the touchpad 302 and the display screen 304, touchpadcoordinates that correspond to the display coordinate areas on thedisplay screen 304 where the user interface objects 308-322 arepresented are utilized as active touchpad coordinate areas 324-338. Inother words, the touchpad 302 may be utilized to directly input the userinterface objects 308-322 when the user 138 touch inputs the portion ofthe surface 140 of the touchpad 302 at the active touchpad coordinateareas 324-338. For example, if the user's finger touches the surface 140of the touchpad 302 at the active touchpad coordinate area 326, thetouch input will be registered at the corresponding display coordinateareas of the display screen 304 presenting user interface object 310that pertains to “connection” in order to execute connections of thevehicle 102.

Additionally, based on data provided to the coordinate touch recognitionmodule 130 by the user interface management module 124 based on theplurality of zones of the vehicle HMI 306, the touchpad 302 mayvirtually be divided into two areas, zone A and zone B, which both mapto respective areas of the vehicle HMI presented on the display screen304. Specifically, zone A of the touchpad 302 may be mapped to zone A ofthe vehicle HMI 306 such that any inputs received on the touchpad 302 atzone A will be absolutely mapped to a corresponding location at zone Aof the vehicle HMI 306 presented on the display screen 304. Similarly,zone B of the touchpad 302 may be mapped to zone B of the vehicle HMI306 such that any inputs received on the touchpad 302 at zone B will beabsolutely mapped to a corresponding location at zone B of the vehicleHMI 306 presented on the display screen 304. In some embodiments, eachzone is independently clickable. For example, the user 138 may resttheir finger on zone A of the touchpad 302 to provide a first input andpush down with their finger causing a click to provide a second input.The user 138 may also place their finger on zone B of the touchpad 302to provide a third input and push down with the finger causing a clickto provide a forth input.

In some embodiments, the user 138 may provide inputs based on utilizingan angle of the user's finger, such that an input that is registered asa right sided input may be provided with a right hand or a right side ofthe user's finger, and an input that is registered as a left sided inputmay be provided with a left hand or a left side of the user's finger.Additionally, the user may provide swiping inputs or scrolling inputsthat may include left/right sided swiping inputs or left/right sidedscrolling inputs that may be registered as a respective left/right sidedinput. It is to be appreciated that these inputs are in addition toother gesture related inputs (e.g., moving the finger while it isresting on the touchpad 302) that may be completed on the touchpad 302.In an exemplary embodiment, the types of inputs provided by the user 138that include the angle, direction, position of the touch input may beaggregated by the coordinate touch recognition module 130 as thetouchpoint data and may further be provided to the user interfacemanagement module 124 of the head unit 106.

In an exemplary embodiment, once the user 138 provides one or more touchinputs on the one or more user interface objects 308-322 of the vehicleHMI 306, the coordinate touch recognition module 130 may communicate theone or more touchpad coordinates to the user interface management module124 along with the touchpoint data. The user interface management module124 may register the user input(s) and the controller 120 may send oneor more commands based on the user input. In an alternate embodiment,once the coordinate touch recognition module 130 determines that thetouch input occurs on one of the active touchpad coordinate areas324-338, the coordinate touch recognition module 130 may send theabsolute mapped touchpad coordinate values as a user input to the userinterface management module 124. This data may be analyzed and sent tothe background animation module 126 and the UI object animation module128 to provide respective graphic animations at specific portions of thevehicle HMI that are based on absolute coordinate mapping.

FIG. 3B is a view illustrating zone coordinate mapping between thetouchpad 108 and the display screen 110 presenting the vehicle HMI 306,according to an exemplary embodiment. FIG. 3B illustrates the displayscreen 304 and the touchpad 302 utilizing a simplified coordinate scalefor the purposes of providing a simplistic example of absolutecoordinate mapping with zone mapping input between the touchpad 302 andthe display screen 304. In an exemplary embodiment, the user 138 may beable to switch the system 100 (e.g., via a user interface input switch)between the absolute coordinate mapping mode (described above withreference to FIGS. 2 and 3A) and an zone coordinate mapping mode(described in reference to FIG. 3B). In one embodiment, the zonecoordinate mapping mode allows the user to quickly and efficientlyprovide one or more touch inputs to user interface objects 308-322 bytouching any portion of the touchpad 302. In other words, zonecoordinate mapping mode allows the user 138 to provide inputs to one ormore user input objects 308-322 displayed on the display screen 304,even if the touch input does not occur at active touchpad coordinateareas 324-338 of the touchpad 302. For example the user 138 may be ableto provide inputs to user interface objects 308-322 of the vehicle HMI306 without having to specifically touch the touchpad 302 at activetouchpad coordinate areas 324-338 (as was described above with referenceabsolute coordinate mapping in FIG. 3A).

As illustrated in the example shown in FIG. 3B, the user 138 may providea touch input 340 on the surface 140 of the touchpad 302 that is outsideof the active touchpad coordinate areas 324-338. In the absolutecoordinate mapping mode, the touch input 340 is presented as the inputindicator 342 that is presented at an absolute coordinate position ofthe touch input 340 on the display screen 304. Also in the absolutecoordinate mapping mode, since the touch input 340 is not received onany one of the active touchpad coordinate areas 324-338 corresponding tothe user interface objects 308-322, an input is not received on any oneof the user interface objects 308-322. In other words, the inputindicator 342 corresponding to the touch input 340 is presented at aportion of the display screen 110 that does not contain any userinterface objects, such as the user interface objects 308-322.Therefore, the touch input 340 will have no effect on the vehicle HMI306 displayed on the display screen 304.

However, in an exemplary embodiment, when the system 100 is in the zonecoordinate mapping mode, the touch input received in areas of thesurface 140 of the touchpad 108 that are not determined to be activetouchpad coordinates of the touchpad 108 (that are not mapped viaabsolute coordinate mapping to user interface objects 308-322) may alsobe utilized to provide inputs to the user interface objects 308-322presented on the vehicle HMI 306 (in addition to the active touchpadcoordinate areas 324-338). For example, as depicted in FIG. 3B, zonecoordinate mapping allows the user to efficiently provide the touchinput 340 to the user interface object 314 without the user having tospecifically touch input the active touchpad coordinate area 330corresponding to the user interface object 314. Therefore, the touchinput 340 at touch input zone 352 that corresponds to the placement ofinput indicator 342 within display input zone 368 is utilized to providea user input to the user interface object 314. As shown, display inputzones 360-374 may be provided that are associated to each of the userinterface objects 308-322 and that correspond to touch input zones344-358 via zone coordinate mapping. The touch input zones 344-358 maybe utilized to provide inputs to the user interface objects 308-322without the user having to specifically input the active touchpadcoordinate areas 324-338. It is to be appreciated that the zonecoordinate mapping may be executed in a dynamic matter based on thelayout of the user interface(s) presented on the display screen 110. Forexample, if the vehicle HMI 306 includes only one user interface object308, then the zone coordinate mapping may include the touch input zone344 as utilizing the entirety of the touchpad 302. Similarly, if thevehicle HMI 306 includes two user interface objects 308, 310 then thezone coordinate mapping may include the touch input zones 344, 346 thatmay each respectively each utilize half of the entirety of the touchpad302.

In an exemplary embodiment, the size and placement of the display inputzones are determined by the user interface management module 124 uponreceiving data from the coordinate display recognition module 114 thatindicate the display coordinates of the input indicator 342 with respectto the user interface objects 308-322 presented on the vehicle HMI 306.In an alternate embodiment, the size and placement of touch input zones344-358 are determined by the user interface management module 124 uponreceiving data from the coordinate touch recognition module 130 thatindicates the active touchpad coordinate areas 324-338 of the touchpad302 with respect to the user interface objects 308-322 presented on thevehicle HMI 306.

In one embodiment, the user interface management module 124 maydetermine the size and placement of the display input zones 360-374 bycalculating display coordinates that are located within a determinedmeasured distance from the display coordinates that include the edges ofthe user interface objects 308-322 displayed on the display screen 304.For example, the user interface management module 124 may determine thesize and placement of the display input zones 360-374 by measuring theshortest distance from the display coordinates that include the edges ofany of the user interface objects 308-322 to the remaining displaycoordinates of the display screen 304.

In an alternate embodiment, the user interface management module 124 maydetermine the size and placement of the display input zones 360-374 bycalculating display coordinates that are located within a determinedmeasured distance from the display coordinates that include the centerpoint of the user interface objects 308-322 displayed on the displayscreen 304. For example, the user interface management module 124 maydetermine the size and placement of the display input zones 360-374 bymeasuring the shortest distance from the display coordinates thatinclude the center point of any of the user interface objects 308-322 tothe remaining display coordinates of the display screen 304.

Upon determining the display input zones 360-374, the user interfacemanagement module 124 may evaluate the display coordinates of the inputindicator 342 (provided by the coordinate display recognition module114) to determine which of the user interface objects 308-322 are to beselected/inputted based off of the touch input received at one of thecorresponding touch input zones 344-358. For example, as shown, theinput indicator 342 corresponding to the touch input 340 is determinedto be presented within display input zone 368 and is utilized to providethe user input to user interface object 314.

FIG. 4A illustrates an exemplary method 400 for providing absolute andzone coordinate mapping with user interface object and backgroundgraphic animations from the operating environment of FIG. 1 according toan exemplary embodiment. The method 400 may begin at block 402 whereinthe method 400 includes presenting the vehicle HMI in an inactive state.Referring to FIG. 4B is an exemplary illustration of the vehicle HMIthat is presented in the inactive state, according to an exemplaryembodiment, the vehicle HMI 418 may be presented on the display screen110 of the display unit 104 based on communication of data to thecoordinate display recognition module 114 by the user interfacemanagement module 124. More specifically, the user interface managementmodule 124 may retrieve data from the storage 118 of the head unit 106that pertains to the vehicle HMI 418 and may communicate that data withthe display unit 104 to display the vehicle HMI 418.

In one embodiment, the vehicle HMI may be presented by the userinterface management module 124 in the inactive state after the vehicle102 has been enabled (e.g., turned on) and the vehicle HMI may remain inthe inactive state until the coordinate touch recognition module 130determines that the user 138 has provided a touch input to the touchpad108. In another embodiment, the vehicle HMI 418 may be presented in theinactive state when it is determined that the user 138 has not provideda touch input on the touchpad 108 for a predetermined amount of time.More specifically, after the user 138 provides one or more touch inputson the touchpad 108 that are mapped based on absolute coordinate mappingor zone coordinate mapping to one or more display coordinates of thedisplay unit 104 and at least one user interface object (e.g., the userinterface object pertaining to the function “play all”) of the vehicleHMI 418, the user interface management module 124 may start thepredetermined timer which may include a default or user customizedperiod of time that may expire at which point the vehicle HMI 418 may bepresented in the inactive state (from the active state).

With reference again to FIG. 4A, upon presenting the vehicle HMI in theinactive state (at block 402), at block 404, the method 400 may includepresenting the background graphic animation in an inactive format. In anexemplary embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4B, within the inactive state thevehicle HMI 418 may include a user interface object input zone (zone A)and an application specific object input zone (zone B), similar to theconfiguration of the vehicle HMI 306 described above with respect toFIG. 3A and FIG. 3B. In one embodiment, the user interface managementmodule 124 may send and receive one or more signals to the backgroundanimation module 126 that may represent indication that the vehicle HMI418 will be presented in the inactive state. Upon receipt of the one ormore signals, the background animation module 126 may send one or moreresponse signals to the user interface management module 124 to presentthe background graphic animation 436 in the inactive format.

In an exemplary embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4B, the background graphicanimation 436 may be presented within zone A of the vehicle HMI 418while a vehicle application or system specific data may be presentedwithin zone B of the vehicle HMI 418. In some embodiments, thebackground graphic animation 436 may be presented within both zone A andzone B of the vehicle HMI 418. In additional embodiments, the backgroundgraphic animation 436 may be presented in two different manners orformats within zone A and zone B within the inactive state. In alternateembodiments, the background graphic animation 436 may include a userselected customized graphic animation that may be selected from list ofpre-stored animations or that may be downloaded from an external storage(not shown) or an internet cloud (not shown).

In one or more embodiments, within the inactive format, the backgroundgraphic animation 436 may be presented as a moving graphic that mayinclude the one or more different types and sizes of features thatinclude shapes, patterns, illustrations, pictures, colors, and the likethat may be presented as a changing feature to move in one or moredirections. The one or more features may be presented as matching sizedobjects that are located equidistant from one another. As anillustrative example, with continued reference to FIG. 4B, thebackground graphic animation 436 may include a diamond shaped patternthat is directed in a particular direction and that may change as thevehicle HMI 418 is being presented in the inactive state. In someconfigurations, the moving pattern of the background graphic animation436 may move or change according to any animated behavior and/ormovement. For instance, the background graphic animation 436 may moveback and forth behind UI object graphic animations 420-434 beingpresented on the vehicle HMI 418 via the display unit 104. Additionally,shapes included within the background graphic animation 436 may changein size or format and/or may be modified into alternate shapes as thebackground graphic animation 436 is presented in the inactive format.

In some embodiments, the motion of the moving graphic may be set to oneor more predetermined speeds during the inactive state of the vehicleHMI 418. For example, the diamond pattern of the background graphicanimation 436 shown in FIG. 4B may be presented to move from one portionof the vehicle HMI 418 to another portion of the vehicle HMI 418 in aslow speed during the inactive format that may increase and/or decreaseover a predetermined amount of time as the background graphic animationcontinues to be presented in the inactive format. In some embodiments,during the inactive format, the background graphic animation 436 may bepresented as a stationary (motionless) graphic that may include the oneor more different aforementioned features.

Referring again to the method 400 of FIG. 4A, upon presenting thebackground graphic animation in the inactive format (at block 404), atblock 406, the method 400 may include presenting the user interfaceobject graphic animation(s) in an inactive format. In one embodiment,within the inactive state, the user interface management module 124 maysend and receive one or more signals to and from the UI object animationmodule 128 that may represent indication that the vehicle HMI 418 willbe presented in the inactive state. As shown in FIG. 4B, upon receipt ofthe one or more signals, the UI object animation module 128 may send oneor more response signals to the user interface management module 124 topresent the one or more UI object graphic animations 420-434 in theinactive format.

In an exemplary embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4B, the one or more UIobject graphic animations 420-434 may be presented within zone A of thevehicle HMI 418 while a vehicle application or system specific data maybe presented within zone B of the vehicle HMI 418. In some embodiments,the one or more UI object graphic animations 420-434 may be presentedwithin both zone A and zone B of the vehicle HMI 418. In additionalembodiments, the one or more UI object graphic animations 420-434 may bepresented in two different manners or formats within zone A and zone B.In additional embodiments, the one or more UI object graphic animations420-434 may include a user selected customized graphic animation thatmay be selected from list of pre-stored animations or that may bedownloaded from an external storage (not shown) or an internet cloud(not shown).

In some embodiments, the UI object animation module 128 may not presentthe one or more UI object graphic animations 420-434 until the user 138provides an initial “wake-up” touch input to the touchpad 108. The“wake-up” touch input may include a simple touching, resting or tappingtouch input that is provided on the surface 140 of the touchpad 108 toindicate that the user 138 may provide one or more touch inputs toselect one or more of the user interface objects being presented on thevehicle HMI 418. In other words, initially during the inactive state,the vehicle HMI 418 may only be presented with the background graphicanimation 436 that may or may not include the presentations of zone Aand/or zone B until the user 138 provides the “wake-up” touch input tothe touchpad 108. In some embodiments, initially during the inactivestate, the vehicle HMI 418 may be presented as a screen saver that ispresented in a dimmed manner that may only be presented with thebackground graphic animation 436 until the user 138 provides the“wake-up” touch input to the touchpad 108. Within these embodiments,upon the reception of the “wake-up” touch input by the touchpad 108, theuser interface management module 124 may send one or more respectivesignals to the UI object animation module 128 based on data receivedfrom the touchpad communication device 132 and the UI object animationmodule 128 may present the one or more UI object graphic animations420-434 in the inactive format.

In an exemplary embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4B, within the inactiveformat, the one or more UI object graphic animations 420-434 may bepresented in a three-dimensional format that may include an illustrationrepresenting a context of a function that each respective user interfaceobject may be inputted to execute. Additionally, the one or more UIobject graphic animations 420-434 may be presented in an angled format,at a first angle. For example, as shown in FIG. 4B, the one or more UIobject graphic animations 420-434 may be presented at a 45 degree angle.In some embodiments, the background animation module 126 may communicatewith the UI object animation module 128 to determine a direction ofmovement of the features of the background graphic animation 436. Upondetermining the direction of movement of the features of the backgroundgraphic animation 436, the UI object animation module 128 may presentthe one or more UI object graphic animations 420-434 in the angledformat in a direction that corresponds to the direction of the featuresof the background graphic animation 436.

In an alternate embodiment, within the inactive format, the one or moreUI object graphic animations 420-434 may be presented in atwo-dimensional format that may be presented in an angled or non-angledformat. As discussed below (with reference to FIG. 4C), as the userprovides one or more user inputs to select one of the one or more userinterface objects, the selected user interface object(s) may no longerbe presented in the inactive format, while one or more un-selected userinterface objects may continue to be presented in the inactive format.

Referring once again to method 400 of FIG. 4A, at block 408, the method400 may include determining if the user 138 provides at least one touchinput on the touchpad 108. In an exemplary embodiment, the userinterface management module 124 may determine that the user 138 providesat least one touch input on the touchpad 108 based on the receipt ofdata corresponding to the touch input from the coordinate touchrecognition module 130. Upon determining that at least one touch inputis provided on the touchpad 108 (at block 408), at block 410, the method400 may include mapping the touch input to a user interface object onthe user interface.

In one embodiment, (as described above with respect to FIG. 3A),absolute coordinate mapping may be utilized to map the touch input(s)provided by the user 138 to the user interface objects presented on thevehicle HMI 418, as shown in FIG. 4B. More specifically, when theabsolute coordinate mapping mode is utilized between the touchpad 108and the display screen 110, touchpad coordinates that correspond to thedisplay coordinate areas on the display screen 110 where the userinterface objects are presented are utilized as active touchpadcoordinate areas. In other words, the touchpad 302 may be utilized todirectly input the user interface objects presented on the vehicle HMI418 when the user 138 touches the portion of the surface 140 of thetouchpad 302 at respective active touchpad coordinate areas.

Upon receiving at least one or one or more touch inputs at a specificportion of the touchpad 108, the touchpad communication device 132 mayregister the one or more touch inputs and may provide the touch padcoordinates of the touch input(s) to the user interface managementmodule 124 along with touchpoint data that corresponds to the manner ofthe touch input(s) that include, but are not limited to, touch inputposition(s), touch input speed, a touch input direction(s), a touchinput angle(s), and the like. The user interface management module 124may communicate with the touchpad 108 and the display unit 104 anddetermine one or more specific portions of the vehicle HMI 418 where theabsolute mapped position of the touchpoint(s) corresponds to the one ormore user interface objects presented on the vehicle HMI 418. In oneembodiment, based on the absolute coordinate mapping, the user interfacemanagement module 124 may determine the selection of one of the one ormore user interface objects by the user 138 based on the touch input(s)provided by the user 138. For example, the user 138 may use their fingerto providing a sliding touch input to the touchpad 108 to scroll fromone user input object to another. As the user 138 touches the absolutemapped portions of the surface 140 of the touchpad 108, the userinterface management module 124 may determine the selection ofrespective user interface objects based on display coordinates thatinclude user interface objects that are absolute mapped to the portionsof the surface 140.

In an alternate embodiment, (as described above with respect to FIG.3B), zone coordinate mapping may be utilized to map the touch input(s)provided by the user 138 to the user interface objects presented on thevehicle HMI 418, as shown in FIG. 4B. More specifically, when the zonecoordinate mapping mode is utilized, the touch input received in areasof the surface 140 of the touchpad 108 that are not determined to beactive touchpad coordinates of the touchpad 108 (that are not mapped viaabsolute coordinate mapping to user interface objects of the vehicleHMI) may also be utilized to provide inputs to the user interfaceobjects of the vehicle HMI.

Upon receiving at least one or one or more touch inputs at a specificportion of the touchpad 108, the touchpad communication device 132 mayregister the one or more touch inputs and may provide the touch padcoordinates of the touch input(s) to the user interface managementmodule 124 along with touchpoint data that corresponds to the manner ofthe touch input(s). The user interface management module 124 maycommunicate with the touchpad 108 and the display unit 104 and maydetermine one or more specific portions of the vehicle HMI 418 where thezone mapped position of the touchpoint(s) corresponds to the one or moreuser interface objects presented on the vehicle HMI 418. In oneembodiment, based on the zone coordinate mapping, the user interfacemanagement module 124 may determine the selection of one of the userinterface objects based on the touch input(s) provided by the user 138.For example, the user 138 may use their finger to provide the slidingtouch input to the touchpad 108 to scroll from one user input object toanother. As the user 138 touches the zone mapped portions of the surface140 of the touchpad 108, the user interface management module 124 maydetermine the selection of respective user interface objects based ondisplay coordinates that are within respective display input zones thatinclude user interface objects.

Upon mapping the touch input(s) to at least one user interface object ofthe user interface (at block 410), at block 412, the method 400 mayinclude presenting the user interface object graphic animation(s) in anactive format. Referring now to FIG. 4C an exemplary illustration of thevehicle HMI 418 that is presented in the active state, according to anexemplary embodiment, upon receiving data from the coordinate touchrecognition module 130 with respect to the touchpad coordinates of thetouch input(s) and the touchpoint data pertaining to the touch input(s),the user interface management module 124 may modify the vehicle HMI 418into the active state. In an exemplary embodiment, the vehicle HMI 418may continue to be presented within zone A of the vehicle HMI 418 whilea vehicle application or system specific data may be presented withinzone B of the vehicle HMI 418.

In one embodiment, the user interface management module 124 may send oneor more signals to the UI object animation module 128 that areindicative of the selected user interface object to which the touchinput(s) is mapped via absolute coordinate mapping or zone coordinatemapping (as discussed above with respect to block 410 of method 400). Inone embodiment, the UI object animation module 128 may provide one ormore response signals to the user interface management module 124 topresent the UI object graphic animation that pertains to the selecteduser interface object on the vehicle HMI 418.

The vehicle HMI 418 may be presented on the display screen 110 andrespective touchpoint data may be provided by the coordinate touchrecognition module 130 to the user interface management module 124. Asdiscussed, the user interface management module 124 may provide one ormore signals to the UI object animation module 128 that are indicativeof the touchpad coordinates of the touch input(s) and the touchpointdata. In an exemplary embodiment, the UI object animation module 128 mayinterpret the one or more signals sent from the user interfacemanagement module 124 to present the UI object graphic animation 432that corresponds to the selected user interface graphic object, asdetermined based on the absolute coordinate mapping or the zonecoordinate mapping.

With continued reference to FIG. 4C, as the user 138 utilizes thetouchpad 108 to provide touch inputs to swipe/scroll through theselection of the user interface objects, the user interface managementmodule 124 may determine respective user interface objects that arebeing selected by the touch inputs being provided by the user 138 basedon the utilization of the absolute touch coordinate mapping or the zonecoordinate mapping. For example, the user 138 may provide a touchinput(s) that includes a swiping left/right motion on the touchpad 108to select through user interface objects of the vehicle HMI 418. Datapertaining to the touchpad coordinates of each input and the touchpointdata that may include data pertaining to the swiping motion and thedirection of the swiping motion may be interpreted by the user interfacemanagement module 124 and communicated to the UI object animation module128. The UI object animation module 128 may interpret the selected userinterface object and may present the UI object graphic animation 432 inthe active format corresponding to the selected user interface objectpertaining to the function “performance”.

In an exemplary embodiment, if the one or more UI object graphicanimations 420-434 were previously presented in the three-dimensionalarrangement within the inactive format (as shown in FIG. 4B), the UIobject graphic animation 432 of the selected user interface object maybe presented in a two-dimensional arrangement within the active formatthat may include an illustration representing a context of eachrespective user interface object. Additionally, the UI object graphicanimation 432 of the selected user interface object may be presented ina different second angle to stand out from the other non-selected userinterface objects that include UI object graphic animations thatcontinue to be presented in the first angle within the inactive format.As shown in FIG. 4C, the UI object graphic animations 420-430, 434 thatcorrespond to the non-selected user interface objects may continue to bepresented in the inactive format at a 45 degree angle while the UIobject graphic animation 432 corresponding to the selection of the userinterface object “performance” is presented at zero degrees (e.g.,facing forward).

In some embodiments, the UI object graphic animation 432 of the selecteduser interface object may be presented in a second angle and a directionthat corresponds to the direction of the touch input provided by theuser 138 on the surface 140 of the touchpad 108. More specifically, theUI object animation module 128 may determine the direction and angle ofthe UI object graphic animation 432 based on the touchpoint datareceived and analyzed by the user interface management module 124 thatmay indicate the direction of touch, the angle of touch, the directionof swiping, etc. provided by the user 138. Upon determining thedirection of the touch input, the UI object animation module 128 maypresent the UI object graphic animation 432 corresponding to theselected user interface object in the angled format in a direction thatcorresponds to the direction of the touch input provided by the user138.

In an alternate embodiment, if the one or more UI object graphicanimations 420-434 were previously presented in the two-dimensionalarrangement within the inactive format, the UI object graphic animation432 of the selected user interface object may be presented in athree-dimensional arrangement within the active format that may includean illustration representing a context of each respective user interfaceobject. For example, if the UI object graphic animation 432 is presentedin the three-dimensional arrangement within the active format, the otherUI object graphic animations 420-430, 434 associated with the other userinterface objects on the vehicle HMI 418 may be presented in thetwo-dimensional format within the inactive format.

In an exemplary embodiment, the UI object animation module 128 mayadditionally present a touch graphic indicator above the selected userinterface object. As shown in FIG. 4C, the touch graphic indicator 438may be presented above the UI object graphic animation 432 of theselected user interface object pertaining to the “performance” functionto provide indication that the associated user interface objectpertaining to the “performance” function is highlighted for possibleinput to execute the “performance” function. In one embodiment, asshown, the touch graphic indicator 438 may include a highlightedpartially boxed portion that is presented above the UI object graphicanimation 432. In additional embodiments, the touch graphic indicator438 may be configured in various shapes, colors, shades, formats, andthe like and may be presented as partially above, below, partiallybelow, bordering, and or circling the UI object graphic animation 432that corresponds to the selected user interface object on the vehicleHMI 418.

With continued reference to FIG. 4C, as the user 138 provides touchinputs to the touchpad 108 (e.g., by dragging a finger across thesurface 140 of the touchpad 108), additional user interface objects maybe selected and the UI object graphic animation 432 may again bepresented in the inactive format when the corresponding user interfaceobject of the “performance” function is not selected. For example if theuser 138 drags their finger to the left on the surface 140 of thetouchpad 108, the user interface object pertaining to the “pedestrian”function may be presented with the UI object graphic animation 430presented in the active format with the touch graphic indicator 438presented above it.

Referring again to the method 400 of FIG. 4A, upon presenting the userinterface object graphic animation(s) in the active format (at block412), at block 414, the method 400 may include presenting the backgroundgraphic animation in an active format. In an exemplary embodiment, uponreceiving data from the coordinate touch recognition module 130 withrespect to the touchpad coordinates of the touch input(s) and thetouchpoint data pertaining to the touch input(s), the user interfacemanagement module 124 may send one or more signals to the backgroundanimation module 126 that are indicative of the selected user interfaceobject to which the touch input(s) is mapped, via absolute coordinatemapping or zone coordinate mapping (as discussed above with respect toblock 410 of method 400). In particular, the user interface managementmodule 124 may send the one or more signals to the background animationmodule 126 that are indicative of the touchpad coordinates of the touchinput(s) and the touchpoint data. In an exemplary embodiment, thebackground animation module 126 may interpret the one or more signalsreceived from the user interface management module 124 to present thebackground graphic animation in the active format. In an exemplaryembodiment, the background graphic animation 436 in the active format ispresented at a location of the vehicle HMI 418 that corresponds to theselected/highlighted user interface graphic object.

In an exemplary embodiment, the background animation module 126 maypresent the background graphic animation 436 corresponding to theselected user interface as a moving graphic that may include the one ormore different types and sizes of features that include shapes,patterns, illustrations, pictures, colors, and the like that may beconsistent with the presentation of the features (e.g., shapes)presented in the inactive format. In another embodiment, the backgroundgraphic animation 436 corresponding to the selected user interfaceobject may be included as a moving graphic that may include one or moredifferent types and sizes of features than when in the inactive format.Additionally, if the background graphic animation 436 is presented asthe stationary (motionless) graphic within the inactive format, thebackground graphic animation may be modified to be presented as a movinggraphic within the active format. For example, the background graphicanimation 436 may be presented in a stationary pattern of diamond shapeswithin the inactive format that may be modified into moving circularshapes within the active format.

With reference to FIG. 4C, as the user 138 utilizes the touchpad 108 toprovide touch inputs to swipe through the selection of the userinterface objects, based on the utilization of absolute touch coordinatemapping or zone coordinate mapping mode, the user interface managementmodule 124 may determine respective user interface objects that arebeing selected based on the touch inputs being provided by the user 138.For example, the user 138 may provide a touch input that includes aswiping left/right motion on the touchpad 108 to scroll through the userinterface objects of the vehicle HMI 418. In one embodiment, datacontaining the touchpad coordinates of each touch input provided by theuser 138 and the associated touchpoint data may be evaluated by the userinterface management module 124 to determine the swiping motion and thedirection of the swiping motion. The user interface management module124 may communicate the swiping motion and direction of the swipingmotion to the background animation module 126. In one or moreembodiments, the background animation module 126 may present thebackground graphic animation 436 in the active format corresponding tothe selected user interface object mapped to the touchpoint, based onthe utilization of absolute coordinate mapping or zone coordinatemapping (as discussed with respect to block 410 of the method 400).

In an exemplary embodiment, the background animation module 126 maypresent the background graphic animation 436 with a focal point thatcorresponds to the selected user interface object such that thebackground graphic animation 436 may be presented as a hovering effectemitting out from the UI object graphic animation 432 corresponding tothe selected user interface object. As shown in FIG. 4C, the backgroundanimation module 126 may present the background graphic animation 436with the hovering effect included in a circular shape that is presentedas emitting out from (e.g., out of) the UI object graphic animation 432of the selected user interface object pertaining to the “performance”function.

In another embodiments, the UI object graphic animation 432 of theselected user interface object may be presented with changing locationssuch that the background graphic animation 436 may be presentedabove/ahead of the UI object graphic animation 432 and may be modifiedto be presented behind/below the UI object graphic animation 432 whilethe background graphic animation 436 is in the active format. In analternate embodiment, the background animation module 126 may presentthe background graphic animation 436 with a bursting effect thatincludes illustration of the UI object graphic animation 432 appearingto burst out towards the user 138 viewing the display screen 110 in arepeated fashion.

In one or more embodiments, the background animation module 126 maymodify the features of the background graphic animation 436 that includethe shapes, patterns, illustrations, pictures, colors, and the like ofthe background graphic animation 436 based on the direction of the touchinput provided by the user 138 on the surface 140 of the touchpad 108.More specifically, the background animation module 126 may determine thedirection and angle of the presentation of the features of thebackground graphic animation 436 based on the touchpoint data receivedand analyzed by the user interface management module 124 (that mayindicate the direction of touch, the angle of touch, the direction ofswiping, etc. provided by the user 138). Upon determining the directionof the touch input, the background animation module 126 may present thebackground graphic animation at the location of the vehicle HMI 418 thatcorresponds to the selected user interface object with a pattern thatincludes shapes that are angled in a direction that corresponds to thedirection of the touch input provided by the user 138. As anillustrative example, when the background graphic animation 436 ispresented as a pattern of diamond shaped objects that are emitting fromthe UI object graphic animation 432 the angle at which the diamondshaped objects are emitting from the UI object graphic animation 432 maychange based on the direction of the touch input provided by the user138. For example, the diamond shaped objects may be presented at anangle to make the objects appear as if they are being emitted towards aright direction if the user 138 provides touch input with their righthanded finger and vice versa.

In one embodiment, the features of the background graphic animation 436may be presented as being scaled and/or adjusted with respect to speedbased on the position of the touch input on the touchpad 108. Inparticular, the size of the shapes of the background graphic animation436 and/or the motion of the moving graphic may be adjusted based ontouchpoint data evaluated by the background animation module 126. Forexample, the diamond pattern of the background graphic animation 436shown in FIG. 4C may be presented to increase in size based on a touchinput that may registered with a high amount of pressure. Additionally,the diamond shaped objects presented as appearing further away from theuser 138 viewing the display screen 110 may be presented at a slowerspeed than diamond shaped objects presented as appearing closer to theuser 138 based on the touch input provided by the user 138.

In some embodiments, the speed of the moving graphic of the backgroundgraphic animation 436 may increase as the selected user interface objectremains selected for a predetermined period of time to indicate to theuser 138 that the particular user interface object has been selected fora certain period of time and may be inputted to execute thecorresponding function. In additional embodiments, during the activeformat, scaling and/or adjustment of features with respect to speed mayoccur with a period of brief delay such that the features of backgroundgraphic animation 436 are presented in a similar fashion to how theywere previously presented in the inactive format during the period ofthe brief delay. Upon completion of the period of the brief delay, thescaling and/or adjustment of features with respect to speed may occur toindicate to the user 138 that the user interface object corresponding tothe location of the background graphic animation 436 has been selectedfor a certain period of time and may be inputted to execute thecorresponding function.

With continued reference to FIG. 4C, as the user 138 provides touchinputs to the touchpad 108 (e.g., by dragging a finger across thesurface 140 of the touchpad 108), additional user interface objects maybe selected and the background animation module 126 may move thebackground graphic animation 436 from the location of the vehicle HMI418 that corresponds to the one user interface object to anotherlocation as the user interface object pertaining to the “performance”function is not selected. In other words, the background graphicanimation 436 may be controlled to move from a previously selected userinterface object to a next selected user interface object as the user138 swipes or drags their finger across the surface 140 of the touchpad108. For example, if the user 138 drags their finger to the left on thesurface 140 of the touchpad 108, the user interface object pertaining tothe “pedestrian” function may be presented with the background graphicanimation 436 emitting from the UI object graphic animation 430presented in the active format with the touch graphic indicator 438presented above it.

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary method 500 for providing absolute andzone coordinate mapping with graphic animations from the operatingenvironment of FIG. 1 according to an exemplary embodiment. At block502, the method 500 may include presenting a user interface in aninactive state. As discussed above, when the one or more user interfacesthat are presented on the display unit 104 are presented in the inactivestate, the background graphic animation and the UI object graphicanimation may be presented in the inactive format. In one embodiment,the back ground graphic animation may be presented as a stationarygraphic when the user interface is in the inactive state.

At block 504, the method 500 may include determining if a touch input isprovided on a touchpad 108 to select a user interface object presentedon the user interface. In one embodiment, the determination as to if thetouch input provided by the user 138 on the touchpad 108 may be based onthe absolute mapped position of the touch input received on the touchpad108, as discussed above. In an alternate embodiment, the determinationas to if the touch input provided by the user 138 on the touchpad 108may be based on the zone mapped position of the touch input received onthe touchpad 108, as discussed above.

At block 506, the method 500 may include presenting the user interfacein an active state. As discussed above, when the one or more userinterfaces are presented within the active state, the background graphicanimation and the UI object graphic animation are presented in theactive format. In one embodiment, within the active state, thebackground graphic animation may be presented with a hovering effectemitting out from the user interface object graphic animation of theuser interface object. In another embodiment, the background graphicanimation may be presented as a moving graphic when the user interfaceis presented in the active state. In one or more embodiments, thelocation of the background graphic animation and the UI object graphicanimation may be determined based on the absolute mapped position of thetouch input received by the user 138 on the touchpad 108. In analternate embodiment, the location of the background graphic animationand the UI graphic animation may be determined based on the zone mappedposition of the touch input received by the user 138 on the touchpad108.

As discussed, various embodiments of absolute zone mapping system 100may be utilized. Also, numerous components and technologies that havenot been discussed herein may be utilized to compute operationsassociated with the absolute zone mapping system 100. It is to beappreciated that the touchpad 108 of the absolute zone mapping system100, may be part of the display unit 104. For example, the touchpad 108may be overlaid upon the display screen 110 so that the surface 140 ofthe touchpad 108 devises a clear layer overlaying the display screen110.

It should be apparent from the foregoing description that variousexemplary embodiments of the invention may be implemented in hardware.Furthermore, various exemplary embodiments may be implemented asinstructions stored on a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium,such as a volatile or non-volatile memory, which may be read andexecuted by at least one processor to perform the operations describedin detail herein. A machine-readable storage medium may include anymechanism for storing information in a form readable by a machine, suchas a personal or laptop computer, a server, or other computing device.Thus, a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium excludestransitory signals but may include both volatile and non-volatilememories, including but not limited to read-only memory (ROM),random-access memory (RAM), magnetic disk storage media, optical storagemedia, flash-memory devices, and similar storage media.

It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that any blockdiagrams herein represent conceptual views of illustrative circuitryembodying the principles of the invention. Similarly, it will beappreciated that any flow charts, flow diagrams, state transitiondiagrams, pseudo code, and the like represent various processes whichmay be substantially represented in machine readable media and soexecuted by a computer or processor, whether or not such computer orprocessor is explicitly shown.

It will be appreciated that various implementations of theabove-disclosed and other features and functions, or alternatives orvarieties thereof, may be desirably combined into many other differentsystems or applications. Also that various presently unforeseen orunanticipated alternatives, modifications, variations or improvementstherein may be subsequently made by those skilled in the art which arealso intended to be encompassed by the following claims.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method for presenting a moving graphicanimation in an inactive state and an active state, comprising:determining an inactivity determination that a touchpad provided on avehicle has not received a touch input in a predetermined amount oftime; presenting a user interface in the inactive state in response tothe inactivity determination, wherein a background graphic animation anda user interface object graphic animation are presented on the userinterface in an inactive format, wherein presenting the user interfacein the inactive state includes presenting the background graphicanimation as a moving graphic that includes at least one feature movingin a first direction; determining that a touch input is provided on thetouchpad at a mapped position to map a selected user interface objectpresented on the user interface based on at least one of: an absolutemapped position and a zone coordinate mapped position of the touch inputreceived on the touchpad; determining a second direction based on atleast one of: the absolute mapped position and the zone coordinatemapped position of the touch input received on the touchpad, wherein thesecond direction is different than the first direction; and presentingthe user interface in the active state in response to the touch inputreceived on the touchpad, wherein the background graphic animation andthe user interface object graphic animation are presented on the userinterface in an active format, wherein the background graphic animationis presented as a moving graphic that includes the at least one featuremoving in the second direction to indicate correspondence of the mappedposition of the touch input to the selected user interface object. 2.The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one feature includes atleast one of: a shape, a pattern, an illustration, a picture, and acolor, wherein the at least one feature is presented as a changingfeature that changes as the user interface is presented in the inactivestate.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein presenting the user interfacein the inactive state includes presenting the user interface objectgraphic animation in a three-dimensional format as the backgroundgraphic animation is presented as a moving graphic that includes apattern that changes as the user interface is presented in the inactivestate, wherein the user interface object graphic animation includes anillustration representing a context of a function that is associatedwith a corresponding user interface object, wherein the user interfaceobject graphic animation is presented in a tilted angled manner in theinactive format in a direction that corresponds to the direction of atleast one feature of the background graphic animation.
 4. The method ofclaim 1, wherein determining that the touch input is provided on thetouchpad to map the selected user interface object includes mapping theabsolute mapped position of touchpad coordinates associated with aportion of a surface of the touchpad where the touch input is received,wherein the touchpad coordinates are mapped to display coordinates of adisplay screen that is presenting the user interface.
 5. The method ofclaim 1, wherein determining that the touch input is provided on thetouchpad to map the selected user interface object includes mapping thezone coordinate mapped position of touchpad coordinates associated witha portion of a surface of the touchpad where the touch input isreceived, wherein the touchpad coordinates are mapped to displaycoordinates of a display screen that is presenting the user interfaceand a plurality of touch input zones are provided on the touchpad,wherein the plurality of touch input zones are mapped to a plurality ofdisplay input zones on the display screen.
 6. The method of claim 1,wherein presenting the user interface in the active state includespresenting the background graphic animation at a location of the userinterface that corresponds to the selected user interface object,wherein the at least one feature includes at least one of: a shape, apattern, an illustration, a picture, and a color.
 7. The method of claim6, wherein presenting the background graphic animation in the activeformat includes presenting the background graphic animation with a focalpoint that corresponds to the selected user interface object, whereinthe at least one feature is modified to be presented at an angle that isbased on a direction of the touch input.
 8. The method of claim 1,wherein presenting the user interface in the active state includespresenting the user interface object graphic animation at a location ofthe user interface that corresponds to the selected user interfaceobject, wherein the user interface object graphic animation is presentedin a two-dimensional format in the active format that includes ananimation representing a context of a function that is associated with acorresponding user interface object, wherein the user interface objectgraphic animation is presented in a different angle in the active formatthan in the inactive format.
 9. The method of claim 8, whereinpresenting the user interface object graphic animation in the activeformat includes presenting a touch graphic indicator above the userinterface object graphic animation at the location of the user interfacethat corresponds to the selected user interface object.
 10. A system forpresenting a moving graphic animation in an inactive state and an activestate, comprising: a memory storing instructions when executed by aprocessor cause the processor to: determine an inactivity determinationthat a touchpad provided on a vehicle has not received a touch input ina predetermined amount of time; present a user interface in the inactivestate in response to the inactivity determination, wherein a backgroundgraphic animation and a user interface object graphic animation arepresented on the user interface in an inactive format, whereinpresenting the user interface in the inactive state includes presentingthe background graphic animation as a moving graphic that includes atleast one feature moving in a first direction; determine that a touchinput is provided on the touchpad at a mapped position to map a selecteduser interface object presented on the user interface based on at leastone of: an absolute mapped position and a zone coordinate mappedposition of the touch input received on the touchpad; determine a seconddirection based on at least one of: the absolute mapped position and thezone coordinate mapped position of the touch input received on thetouchpad, wherein the second direction is different than the firstdirection; and present the user interface in the active state, whereinthe background graphic animation and the user interface object graphicanimation are presented on the user interface in an active format,wherein the background graphic animation is presented as a movinggraphic moving in the second direction to indicate correspondence of themapped position of the touch input to the selected user interfaceobject, wherein the moving graphic includes the at least one featurewith a hovering effect emitting out from the user interface objectgraphic animation of the selected user interface object.
 11. The systemof claim 10, wherein presenting the user interface in the inactive stateincludes presenting at least one feature, wherein the at least onefeature includes at least one of: a shape, a pattern, an illustration, apicture, and a color.
 12. The system of claim 10, wherein presenting theuser interface in the inactive state includes presenting the userinterface object graphic animation in a three-dimensional format as thebackground graphic animation is presented as a moving graphic thatincludes a pattern that changes as the user interface is presented inthe inactive state, wherein the user interface object graphic animationincludes an illustration representing a context of a function that isassociated with a corresponding user interface object, wherein the userinterface object graphic animation is presented in a tilted angledmanner in the inactive format in a direction that corresponds to thedirection of at least one feature of the background graphic animation.13. The system of claim 10, wherein determining that the touch input isprovided on the touchpad to map the selected user interface objectincludes mapping the absolute mapped position of touchpad coordinatesassociated with a portion of a surface of the touchpad where the touchinput is received, wherein the touchpad coordinates are mapped todisplay coordinates of a display screen that is presenting the userinterface.
 14. The system of claim 10, wherein determining that thetouch input is provided on the touchpad to map the selected userinterface object includes mapping the zone coordinate mapped position oftouchpad coordinates associated with a portion of a surface of thetouchpad where the touch input is received, wherein the touchpadcoordinates are mapped to display coordinates of a display screen thatis presenting the user interface and a plurality of touch input zonesare provided on the touchpad, wherein the plurality of touch input zonesare mapped to a plurality of display input zones on the display screen.15. The system of claim 10, wherein presenting the user interface in theactive state includes presenting the background graphic animation at alocation of the user interface that corresponds to the selected userinterface object, wherein the at least one feature includes at least oneof: a shape, a pattern, an illustration, a picture, and a color.
 16. Thesystem of claim 15, wherein presenting the background graphic animationin the active format includes presenting the background graphicanimation with a focal point that corresponds to the selected userinterface object, wherein at least one feature is modified to bepresented at an angle that is based on a direction of the touch input.17. The system of claim 10, wherein presenting the user interface in theactive state includes presenting the user interface object graphicanimation at a location of the user interface that corresponds to theselected user interface object, wherein the user interface objectgraphic animation is presented in a two-dimensional format in the activeformat that includes an animation representing a context of a functionthat is associated with a corresponding user interface object, whereinthe user interface object graphic animation is presented in a differentangle in the active format than in the inactive format.
 18. The systemof claim 17, wherein presenting the user interface object graphicanimation in the active format includes presenting a touch graphicindicator above the user interface object graphic animation at thelocation of the user interface that corresponds to the selected userinterface object.
 19. A non-transitory computer readable storage mediumstoring instructions that when executed by a computer, which includes aprocessor perform a method, the method comprising: determining aninactivity determination that a touchpad provided on a vehicle has notreceived a touch input in a predetermined amount of time; presenting auser interface in an inactive state in response to the inactivitydetermination, wherein a background graphic animation and a userinterface object graphic animation are presented on the user interfacein an inactive format, wherein presenting the user interface in theinactive state includes presenting the background graphic animation as amoving graphic that includes at least one feature moving in a firstdirection; determining that a touch input is provided on the touchpad ata mapped position to map a selected user interface object presented onthe user interface based on at least one of: an absolute mapped positionand a zone coordinate mapped position and a zone coordinate mappedposition of the touch input received on the touchpad; determining asecond direction based on at least one of: the absolute mapped positionand the zone coordinate mapped position of the touch input received onthe touchpad, wherein the second direction is different than the firstdirection; and presenting the user interface in an active state, whereinthe background graphic animation and the user interface object graphicanimation are presented on the user interface in an active format,wherein the background graphic animation is presented as a movinggraphic, moving in the second direction to indicate correspondence ofthe mapped position of the touch input to the selected user interfaceobject, wherein the moving graphic includes the at least one featurewith a hovering effect emitting out from the user interface objectgraphic animation of the selected user interface object.
 20. Thenon-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 19, whereinpresenting the user interface in the active state includes presentingthe background graphic animation at a location of the user interfacethat corresponds to the selected user interface object, wherein the atleast one feature includes at least one of: a shape, a pattern, anillustration, a picture, and a color.